Honesty
by sdbubbles
Summary: Set during 'Ex-File.' What if Jenny had been honest with Stephanie? What if they had talked properly?


**A/N: I wrote this with the belief that Stephanie wanted what was best for Gibbs, and knew that it wasn't her or Hollis. I think she really did care about him and wanted him to be with the person who could understand him in a way she knew she never could, and that she knew who was good for him.**

**It might be a bit OOC, but then I always say that, don't I?**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Sarah x**

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"Can I ask a personal question?" Stephanie asked suddenly. Jenny smiled at her, knowing exactly what was coming.

"I always thought, before we were married, there was something between you and Jethro…" Stephanie trailed off. She felt she had a reasonable idea of what the answer would be.

"I take it you want the truth from me," Jenny sighed. She was well aware that Gibbs had hid her from Stephanie.

Stephanie nodded. "Please, director."

"If we're gonna talk about this, my name is Jenny," Stephanie was told. Jenny sighed and began talking. "It's painful for both of us. There was something between us, but I left. I left a letter explaining that I never meant to hurt him."

"Jenny, are you pissed that he's dating the colonel?" Stephanie asked gently. She could see it every time she had seen the two women together. Stephanie took Jenny avoiding her gaze as a 'yes.' Stephanie continued, "Uh-huh. That means you still love him."

"Would it really change anything? He's dating her. Period." Jenny didn't know what Stephanie had watched.

"You know, when he came home to me, he was different. Subdued. He talked in sleep. Sometimes about Shannon and Kelly. A lot of the time all I heard at night was him pleading with someone to stay. He would say, 'Jen, don't go, don't do it.' I think he was seeing you walk away for the last time, only then he realised that it was for good."

"He really dreamed about me?" Jenny asked, shocked.

"Jenny, are you blind? You're trying to tell me that you have been back two years and you still down see what's going on?" Stephanie said with a look that questioned Jenny's sanity. Jenny stared back at her. She looked embarrassed. "He still loves you. He never loved me like he loved you."

"Suppose you hate me for that," Jenny muttered.

Surprisingly, though, Stephanie shook her head. "No. I have no control over who he loves. I know that. If he loves you, you're extremely lucky because he'll protect you from everything." Stephanie stood up and walked to the door. Before she left, she turned to the director and instructed, "Don't lose him again. He loves you."

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When Stephanie had left Gibbs' house that night she smiled encouragingly at Jenny, who she knew was hiding in the darkness of her car.

Colonel Mann came out of the house with tears rolling down her face. She made her way to her car and sped off down the street.

Jenny moved silently to the house. She didn't bother knocking; there was no point. She walked slowly and hesitantly to the basement she knew he had taken refuge in.

When he heard the clicking of heels as she walked down the stairs, his head whipped around from the boat to see who the visitor was. Jenny. Ugh, he _so _did not need one of her endless lectures right now. He knew he'd messed up by hiding his past from Hollis and he didn't need another one of his exes to inform him of that fact.

"By the way Colonel Mann just tore up the road, I assume-" Jenny began before she was cut off by the man who was fixated on his boat.

"We broke up, yeah," he ended her sentence for her. He exhaled loudly and got to the point. "What do you want, Jen?"

Jenny started pacing the length of the basement as she attempted to figure out how to put this. She closed her eyes and said, "Stephanie told me something today. About you," she clarified when he shot her a questioning glance. She was aware that she was venturing in to dangerous territory here, and it was making her very uncomfortable.

"Yeah? What was that?" he asked casually, appearing not to be as bothered about it as he really was. What had his most recent ex-wife told Jenny?

"She said…" Jenny paused slightly, meeting his eyes for the first time since entering his home. "She said that you used to dream about me. That to used to talk in your sleep, and that you would ask me to come back."

Gibbs just stared at Jenny blankly. He remembered the dreams, just not the talking. Stephanie had never mentioned it to him. God, that must have hurt Stephanie something terrible, knowing that he was dreaming about Jenny when he was in a relationship with her. "I talked in my sleep?" he repeated.

"She never told you?" Jenny enquired.

"Never," Gibbs confirmed, almost silently. He watched as she debated on whether to keep going with it or not. She really wanted to deal with this now, before it got even more out of hand and they suffered any further.

Gibbs dropped his tools and went to stand inches away from her. He gave her his trademark stare as he tried to see within her mind and heart. It was never an easy task because she was just too experienced at hiding her feelings. But then, Jethro was just as experienced at reading her face, words, tone, her stance…he'd done it for so long. "Get to the point, Jenny," he ordered quietly.

Jenny swallowed hard. It was like forcing a brick wall back into the ground as she tried to let her guard drop. "She thinks that you still love me," she enlightened him. "Is that true?"

Gibbs ran his hand back though his hair while he answered her question. He decided that, for once, he needed to be honest. If he wasn't honest, it would hurt both himself and Jenny. No, honesty was what was needed here. "Yeah," he murmured in her ear.

"Then why were you dating Colonel Mann?" Jenny demanded. She didn't get it. Why would he be with Hollis if he loved Jenny? Was that his screwed up version of male logic or something?

"Because I didn't want us to get hurt again. Don't you think we've been through enough already?" he replied.

"That was, as DiNozzo would call it, a train wreck," Jenny smiled slightly at the senior field agent's description of Jethro's sticky situation earlier. "I heard him," she added with a chuckle.

Her tone became more serious when she began talking again, though. "That won't happen again, Jethro. I've learned a lot of things in eight years."

"Eight years is a long time," agreed Gibbs. He believed that she had learned from er experience with La Grenioulle, and he was sure that Ziva had drummed a few things into her head. "One condition," he offered.

"What's that?" she asked suspiciously. Knowing him, it would be something totally unrealistic.

"The team has to figure it out for themselves," he grinned evilly. They all took a huge interest in his private life, and he wasn't going to tell them anything about anything.

Jenny rolled her eyes at his request. "Fine," she allowed. It _would_ be fun to watch them try and work it out. She touched his face with her palm and pulled his close to kiss him. It felt amazing to be doing something she thought she would never do again. As he held her waist into his body, she felt a happiness that she had not felt in years flood right through her. She pulled away and said gently, "I love you, Jethro."

"I love you, too," he responded. He pressed his lips to her forehead and made a mental note to thank Stephanie for seeing what he really needed. They may be divorced, but he was grateful that she cared enough to help put things right between him and Jenny. _I hope you're happy, Steph. Thank you_, he thought.

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**Hope you liked it!**

**Please review!**

**Sarah x**


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